DHL commits £550m to expand UK e-commerce and healthcare logistics

DHL Supply Chain has announced a £550m investment to expand its operations and deploy advanced automation technologies across the UK and Ireland, supporting increased demand in the e-commerce and life sciences healthcare sectors.

The investment will enhance infrastructure and drive the rollout of robotics across customer operations. DHL is collaborating with technology partners to develop sector-specific automation, with more than 2,000 robots already integrated across the UK, Ireland and the wider EMEA region.

Tim Tetzlaff, global head of digital transformation at DHL Supply Chain, said: “At DHL, we’re driving the next wave of automation, not as a one-size-fits-all approach but as a set of intelligent, adaptive technologies tailored to the specific needs of individual sectors.

“For e-commerce, for example, where the market is evolving and demand is growing, we’re expanding our fulfilment capabilities to support that shift with automated solutions that significantly simplify high-volume operations.

“Meanwhile, in the growing life sciences sector, we’re leveraging automation to respond faster to demand and manage complexity at scale with end-to-end visibility, amid a larger focus on patient-centric approaches and differentiated routes to market.”

As part of its Strategy 2030 framework, DHL will also open a new health logistics facility in Derby to strengthen support for the life sciences and healthcare sector.

Saul Resnick, CEO of DHL Supply Chain UK & Ireland, said: “Our investment reflects the growing opportunities across the UK market.

“Customers are increasingly recognising the benefits of digitalisation and, to date this year, we’ve already surpassed the number of deployments achieved last year.